But in Colorado Springs, "it's nice to finally have some good news," Steve Cox, chief of economic vitality and innovation for the city, tells the local Gazette.

As the newspaper reports:

"Sunday was a day of homecomings in Colorado Springs, with thousands of Waldo Canyon fire evacuees allowed back in their homes permanently and others, in the fire-torn Mountain Shadows subdivision, allowed to see what was left of their neighborhood for a short while.

"As of 8 p.m. Sunday night, all but 3,000 evacuees — less than a tenth of the number at the height of evacuations — were allowed back into their homes."

About 350 homes in the area were destroyed by the fire, which began on June 23 and is now about 55 percent contained. At least two people were killed.

The Denver Post today tells some of the stories of residents — both those who returned to find nothing and those whose homes escaped the blaze. "As residents of the Mountain Shadows neighborhood returned to their homes Sunday morning, they came face-to-face with the cruel, capricious nature of the Waldo Canyon fire," the newspaper says.

Among the strange sights the residents found: melted bowling balls. You wouldn't think bowling balls would melt," C.J. Moore told The Associated Press. But she found her family's had done just that.